COUNTY NEWS: ‘White glow’ photo alerts parents to Jaxson’s eye cancer

The photo of Jaxson showing a white reflection in his eye which was then diagnosed as retinoblastoma

Steve Pickthall

Published:11:06Thursday 09 March 2017

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It was this photo which first alerted the parents of one-year-old Jaxson that something might be wrong.

While one eye shows the usual red glare from the flash of the camera, the other eye has a strange white glow.

Jaxson started chemotherapy on December 30 which has seen him lose his hair, but after being grumpy for a few days after treatement he returns to his happy self, his dad Owen said

“We all have flash cameras on our phones these days and after taking a few of Jax I noticed this white reflection in one of his eyes,” dad Owen Scrivens, 20, explained.

“When I looked back at other photos I realised every one of them had the same.

“We went on the NHS website and read it could either be a cataract, a detached retina or retinoblastoma. It said eye cancer was extremely rare so you don’t expect it.”

However, the Felpham, near Bognor Regis, family’s worst fears were realised when a consultant at Royal London Hospital, confirmed Jaxson had cancer of the eye.

Mum Emily playing with her brave son

“When the doctor told us the news Emily (Jaxson’s mum, 20) just burst into tears,” Owen said. “It was horrible.”

The family were told that to stand any chance of saving the eye, 14-month-old Jaxson would need chemotherapy.

After having a Hickman line inserted into the top of his heart at Southampton General Hospital, the first of six rounds of chemotherapy was administered straight away on December 30.

“Chemotherapy has made me lose my hair, made me sick, tired, weak and everything I eat tastes like metal although now I have a lot of meds to try and control the sickness. The side effects make me a very grizzly boy,” a Go Fund Me page, written by Emily from Jaxson’s point of view, says.

Dad Owen with his young son in hospital

The couple have set up the page to raise money for the Sussex Snowdrop Trust and the Piam Brown oncology ward at Southampton Hospital for greatly supporting them in their fight, and crucially, to raise awareness of retinoblastoma.

Owen said: “What’s really shocked us from talking to people is them saying ‘my niece or nephew had a white glow in their eye but we didn’t think anything of it’.

“Quite often it’s genetic and it a occurs in both eyes, so worst case scenario, apart from it being fatal, a child could be blind in both eyes, which is just horrible.”